you're watching the station that works for you "good morning maryland." breaking news on your friday. an apartment fire in randallstown early this morning. while you slept. a look at the damage caused in a live report. will taxpayers have to foot the bill for another special section when the governor is expected to make the final decision. and looking to eat out for less? the deals you can find getting ready for baltimore's restaurant week. we will take you there also with a live report from linda so. all that is straight ahead on this friday, but first a. look at what was last night storms rolling true our -- through our area. this video out of east baltimore. look at this. it's coming down in buckets. and at one point 5500 people they were in the dark.

that number is now down to 760. so much more coming up on this friday, good morning. i am charley crowson. megan is off today. mike masco is in with a check of the traffic. he is on the road and you are on the weather. a lot going on but we need more. >> yes. that's the key word and it's been key for a while now. and you sought video of the rain coming down -- saw the video of the rain coming down lat night. bel air really. let's show you the aftermath of bel air. look pretty this morning right? a different sight as we look at the time-lapse. putting it in motion and you can see beautiful sunrise this morning. a few clouds out there. and that's going to be the name of the game as we head throughout the day. the sun mixing with the cloud. lots of clouds and a lot of spots this morning. and clouds will pay a big story today depending on whether we will get severe weather popping as we go into the afternoon. now the temperature in bel air coming in at 72 degrees right now. nottingham at 73. good morning glen knell being

-- glen elk at 69 degrees a looking at the areas in the orange, northern baltimore, until about 7:00 today, yesterday it was 8:hundred unbut it's over at 7 for -- 8:00 but it's over at 7. we will be hot again. i am forecasting a high around 95 degrees. but we like that downward spiral that we will see going through the next several days. the weekend is upon us. lots to do. i think you might like that weather especially as we go into sunday. all right. let's check of the abc2 timesaver traffic with mike masco good morning. >> reporter: good morning. tgif here we go. we are talking about an issue at bwi. if you are catching a early flight, be prepared aviation boulevard is being affected. police activity is on the scene for a crash and you see that listed. a good alternative 195 the better bet approaching the airport this morning. we have an issue 95 at excuse

me towards pikesville of downed wires and as we slide into baltimore city still talking about the issues due to the sink hole issue and again monument street affecting parts of north glover street. use route 40 as an alternative route. and the tunnels this morning, they are going to be jammed. 895 northbound between exit 7 and 8 we have roadwork as you head into harbor tunnel. and as you head towards fort mchenry tunnel, expect a slow go into the toll plaza due to long-term construction patterns going into the fort mchenry toll plaza. outside we go 95 at 695 looking towards the southwest. pretty good looking commute. another check on traffic coming up in less than 10. charley. back to breaking news we told you about at 4:30. some people in baltimore county may have to find a new place to live temporarily. a two-alarm fire damaged units in an apartment building on yener lane in randeltown. and sherrie johnson is live on

the scene. we understand -- randallstown. and sherrie johnson is live on the scene. those living at the complex tell quite a story. >> reporter: that's right. we have all new information for you this morning charley. we have found out from baltimore county firefighters that the one of the firefighters was injured while fighting this fire. he has been released from the hospital. he had to be taken to the hospital because of falling debris that hit him and he was taken to shock trauma but we learned he has been released from the hospital and he is going to be okay. now look behind me here. this is all that's left here. the firefighters actually just left a few moments ago. we here in randallstown at the rockdale gardens apartments. that's off liberty road. you know crews were on the scene for much of the night putting out hot spots and cleaning up debris. they are out here for several hours. that call came out about 2:00 this morning at rockdale garden apartments on yener lane. when crews arrived on the scene, apartment was engulfed in flames and heavy smoke. the fire started on the third floor and quickly spread across

the roof. now the fire damaged 12 units and 16 people must look for another place to lib this morning. the red cross has been on the scene to help them find another place. also, the apartment complex managers also out here this morning trying to relocate the families. all of the people who live here got out safely. again, one firefighter from pikesville volunteer fire department was injured when some debris hit him. again, he was taken to shock trauma and has been released from the hospital. there were 26 pieces of equipment on the scene. and about 100 firefighters battling the two-alarm fire. there is no word on exactly what caused this fire but investigators say they are still looking into it. reporting live in randallstown, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. breaking news down load the abc2 free app but teching wmar to 46988. we are expecting to find out if a special session will be held to talk about expanded gambling here in maryland.

the governor is expect to make the announcement around 10 this morning. we will have to stream it live at abc2news.com and available. law makers are discuss allowing table games at a new casino site at the national harborp they would have until august 20th to figure out if they want the measure on the november ballot. if you plan to head out to maryland live, you will notice a few changes. they have 500 new slot machines and leb tronic table games up and running. and ram's head bar opened for business. the new casino expects to add another,000 slot machines bynovember's and another restaurant and retail store they will have a lounge available all of that coming up before year's end. well it would be a frightening ordeal for any family member a loved one kidnapped from outside their home and that's what happened to vi. rip ken this is the man responsible for take mother of cal ripk-en junior -- ripken junior e took her for a

midnight car -- he took her for a midnight car ride and left her where from the spot he took her. >> i don't know. seems like somebody who probably had been there and knew them. i don't think it was random. >> well, i don't think they knew what they were doing. >> i think they are mentally off their rocker. that's what i say. have to be. >> police are not releasing a motive but they admit it's odd the man didn't demand money. a police chief in 'arundel county may look familiar. county executive john leopold announced john tolliver is coming back. he is replacing someone who resigned because of criminal investigationer. a weekend means eating out with family and friends. think about baltimore city if you want to do it. you will save some cash. linda so is live this morning down at mount vernon to explain why. a lot of restaurants taking part in restaurant week.

>> reporter: yeah. and one of them city cafe they have been coming out extra early for us this morning to cook up great dishes. mike is with the downtown partnership to tell us more. it's huge and has grown. >> this is the 7th summer restaurant week and we do a winter restaurant week and in addition to city cafe we have other restaurants starting the promotion. >> reporter: people want to note price points. >> for dinner depending on the restaurant it will be three course for 30.12 and more modest family related restaurants probably $20.12. >> reporter: okay wonderful. and this is some great stuff. you've got for us, chef thanks so much. you came out here extra early to cook this up. these are some of the dishes that will be served right? >> absolutely. we have a appetizers chive leek and italian risoto and topped with a butter and we have a strawberry short quake

strawberries and over here is a intense chocolate tart with pink pepper corn black sea salt and spiced macadamian nuts. >> reporter: it has to be superbusy and exciting. >> it's lot of fun. just getting out and getting people and seeing the expressions when they have great food. >> reporter: and you are doing something extra special here. you are giving out gift card. >> correct. we are one of if not the only restaurant that participates that gibbs out a $10 -- gives out a $10 give card for everyone that comes in. and since you and mike are officially the first guests, i will give you one. >> reporter: thank you. >> and mike one for you as well. >> reporter: that's great. thank. you $10 gift card get it for coming in enjoying restaurant week. three course dinners at 30.12 and it cost 30in to.12. >> linda -- 30.12. >> linda. >> reporter: i am not giving it to you. >> but you have to bring food back, please. >> reporter: maybe in my tummy.

it will be in my tummy. >> oh no. no. linda, so, taunt -- linda so taunting us. thanks a lot. it's 6:09 on this friday. and the count down to the summer games in london begins. today, the big opening ceremony hours away. we will have a live look across the pond and a report on the last-minute festivities taking place. and run off can cause all sorts of problem. ask people in greenland after the ice melts who is being blamed. then, we are getting new video and new information of a massive storm craze across maryland. but causing a lot of damage to the northeast this video out of new york a spectacular light show lynette. >> reporter: latter. all right. -- >> all right there's more where that came from. what about the weekend? i will tell you if you will need the rain gear coming up. >> reporter: we have few issues to talk about in baltimore city and downed trees and power lines. your full look at traffic coming up.

>> here's a beautiful shot of new york city. yeah, we will talk more about good morning maryland coming up. >> reporter: in today's techbites another outage for twitter. the service is back up and running after users around the world were unable to send or receive tweets for a short time yesterday. twitter denies it was caused by an olympic overload but the games are expected to cause a spike in tweets. discussing the social network disappointing earnings report, mark zuckerberg says it wouldn't make sense for facebook to make a phone but will concentrate on making with manufacturers on integration for now. ultra fast fiber optic internet service is going to cost about 70 bucks a month and will be 100time faster than cable modemservice and google will offer tv service and the search engine will accept request that leverages with a mobile device. put it on the home page

anywhere. those are the tech bites.

lightning round in our area overnight. a similar scene in the big apple. no reports of injuries after a possible tornado hit the city in southern new york. power lines and trees were toppled and hospitals were placed on disaster alert. the state of emergency is in effect until 8 this morning. those severe storms knocked out electricity to more than 200,000 customers in that region. it provied a spectacular lightning show. a lot of people are wondering how long it will hang around and they have plans for the weekend. >> exactly. but you know it's going to hang around for today. we will be in the warm sector. we have to wait for the cold front to pass. clark of the air masses. we have cloud out there right

now charley. that could hold temperatures down a bit. but the dew point that's what i am concerned with. the dew points are in the 70s so when you have that much moisture that much energy and fuel you are working with, there is is a possibility for that severe weather to come as we go into the afternoon time frame. we will keep our eyes peeled as we zoom in close to home, we do have lots of clouds. that's what i am talking about. but we have a chance pour showers still to pop as we go into the afternoon. maybe we will get a break in the clouds. like we did yesterday. so this is what it looks like right now in laurel. talking about the clouds and you can see for yourself. but look at that beautiful sunrise. the colors back in the back. and we will have the sun, cloud mix. you are going to enjoy it if you like humidity. we have that heat advisory so with the hod temperatures, with -- hot temperatures and humidity we have the heat advisory going into effect at lunchtime for the areas shaded in the orange color. and that will linger until about 7:00. we also do have a slight risk

for the severe weather. the storm prediction center issued this. the biggest threats will be damaging winds and also large hail for the areas in yellow coloring, rather, and basically that's for southern maryland also if you are going to delaware for today. future trends shows you the chance for scattered showers and storms to pop up going into the afternoon in time for the rush hour. unfortunately, and by saturday maybe another round and we clear out nicely heading into sunday as high pressure will begin to build into the picture. this is what i am going with today. 95. it's going to be hot one on tap. let's check of the abc2 timesaver traffic with mike masco good morning. >> reporter: good morning. how is my saturday beach day. >> i am going have the forecast so you have to wait for that. >> reporter: great. thanks. let's show you an incident down around rox bury where we have downed lines from last night's powerful storms that moved through baltimore county.

that's going to tie things up. going towards the south right around the airport. look if you have a flight and you are the last-minute type of person don't take aviation boulevard. we have a accident tying up that section of the airport. use 195 as an alternative route around that. pikesville we had an issue willearly on. all about this whole monument street and mess due to the searching hole. use route 40 around the sink hole in baltimore city. outside we go, we will look live and this is 95 at of 9 -- 695. that's nice shot. clear roads on 95 as you approach 695 and we will go to 695 at harford road showing us pretty good flow of traffic with the speed censors sensors around 55 miles per -- sensors around 55 miles per hour. 695 outer loop from 95 to 83, that's an 11-minute ride. it's been compared to mark spits but michael phelps is not

worried about the drama or hype. the maryland native says he has tunnel vision going into the summer games. also, london is known for the dismal weather, the dance that some hope could bring luck for the summer games. we will take you there when "good morning maryland" continues.

and well col back. we are hours away from the opening ceremonies for the 2012 sum are games. action kicks off at 3 eastern time this afternoon. and abc news aaron mclaughlin joins us live with a preview of what to exexpect and i am sure things are -- expect and i am sure things are ramping up across the pond. good morning. >> reporter: good morning charley. that's right. the excitement is building herein london earlier this morning the olympics plane boarded the royal barge for a trip and it will take center stage at tonight's opening ceremony.

it took 7 years and billions of dollars to get to this point the result of 32 sporting facilities prepared and a section of london revitalized. not however without the hiccups and setbacks willer this month. -- earlier this month. a private security company announced they wouldn't provide thousands of security guards for the games and military had to step in and fill the gap and set them back and official say london is ready for great game and it kicks off tonight at the opening ceremony set to take place just behind me. >> you talked about the security issues there in london. presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney talked about that. a little critical of what could be coming from the london games. that made headlines here stateside. how was it received there in london? >> reporter: well, if he did say it he was disconcerting that some of those setbacks

took place. nevertheless he said that mistakes are inevitable when putting on an olympic game. david cameron the prime minister basically responded saying that london is ready. >> all right. erin mclaughlin live in london. opening ceremonies 3 this afternoon eastern time. and thanks for your time today. in other news michael phelps is not expected to attend the opening ceremonies. the 14th time olympic gold medalist has a race saturday morning. what should fans be watching for when he takes to the water? >> i feel this is the olympics the biggest of the big. and this is the show. it's superbowl swimming. the best swimmers in the world will be here ready to swim. >> his first race is 400 medley for qualification but if you want to clear him on you have to get up early. it starts at five in the morning again at 5 tomorrow.

now london is hoping for great weather for the olympics and cities take no chances. just in case, british airways has flown in native american apache danceers from arizona performing the rainbow dance to make sure the sun is staying put. news time is now 6:23. aleen gabbey is joining us this morning. you have a ball of energy in your hands. >> he is not staying put. >> this is smoky. okay. come on. come here. come here. >> there you go. new friend. >> will you be my friend? sneeze up for adoption at maryland spca3-year-old and a lot of energy for that age. >> the dogs are small but pack a punch and they have got some play in them. >> big personality and a lot of energy and it's good to take little dogs to obedience school. >> would you look at this? you -- who wouldn't want to adopt the dog. >> isn't he sweet. >> we have a 3-year-old can you teach an older dog new tricks?

i hate pun but can you. >> absolutely a lot of times they are pampered and people hold and pick them up and they get big egos and think they run the show. >> you know if i put him on the ground he would run out the door and jump in your car and drive off. >> he could figure out how to drive. >> he could. people once you have interested in smoky who wouldn't want the dog come on how do they find you. >> he is at the maryland spca and information is on the screen. we open at noon today. >> you want to look over there for me. this is smoky again. 410-235-8826, thanks so much. >> thanks charley. >> give them a call he won't last very long. all right. now a major ford recall as you head off to work now. the vehicle now being affected and problem that involves the gas pedal. this is not toyota but domesticly owned ford. new information about the jackson family dispute. what the family patriarch is saying of the disturbing story with the family so much drama.

we will fill you in when good morning maryland continues. smoky you want to take us to break? we will be right back.

are's watching the station that works for you "good morning maryland i. >> breaking news update. one apartment and lot of flames and smoke and prost station as some in bolt -- frustration as

some in baltimore county are trying to find another place to live following a fire. >> reporter: those messages and that rhetoric is hurtful to our family. >> outrage intensifies against chick-fil-a after what the ceo had to say about gays and lesbians. a big lightning show over parts of the big apple but what's bigger is a problem this morning as the storms cut through parts of new york state. we will take you there as we start the friday july 27th. good morning maryland i am charley crowson. he is mike masco giving us a wow. >> that's impressive. and we had crazy lightning last night. >> we did. it was back out there and we could see another round tonight. >> quickly before weather i want to make a clarification from earlier in the broadcast. it was brought to attention the ceremony start at 9 p.m. for the olympic game opening ceremonies9 p.m. london time. they will be tape delayed for us for prime time 7:30. so it's 3 our time when they start. and it will be